The Picnic-Basket Straw Poll

Here we thought all we need for a good picnic is a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and a simple basket. But these days, it's a wicker picnic backpack -- with a wine holster on the side.

With concert-on-the-lawn programs kicking off from Massachusetts's Tanglewood to the Hollywood Bowl, anyone who's snuck a peek at the next blanket over has seen baskets filled with candles and china, even crystal goblets. Summer catalogs, too, are full of canvas hampers, baskets with wine drawers and creative basket-backpack hybrids. One big...